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Tuesday, January 12, 2016

A NERVOUS silence reigned in most dealing rooms on Tuesday, as
markets kept wary eyes cocked in China's direction and as traders stayed
away in droves, worried that China's stock market plunges of the past
week are not yet over.

The relentless slide in oil prices meant heavy selling of offshore
and marine (O&M) stocks, which in turn dragged the Straits Times
Index (STI) 17.07 points lower to 2,691.78, its sixth loss in seven
sessions so far this year.

Turnover amounted to 1.8 billion units worth S$1.02 billion, of which
S$743 million or 73 per cent was done in the 30 STI components.
Clearly, institutions and programme traders were active, even if retail
players were not. Excluding warrants, there were 148 rises versus 273
falls.

"Today should have been cancelled due to a lack of interest," said a
retail trading representative. "After Monday, we should have skipped
Tuesday altogether and gone straight to Wednesday."